My Sourdough Experiment
Posted On 28 August 2020
Instead of a boule baked in a dutch oven, I wanted a recipe that used starter and not yeast and could be baked in loaf pans. (A lot of the ones I’ve seen for loaf pans use discard starter and added yeast.) This is the result after fooling around and trying different combinations.
My Loaf Pan Sourdough
Ingredients
- 240 grams sourdough starter, fed and active
- 450 grams warm water ~100°F
- 50 grams whole wheat flour
- 700 grams bread flour
- 12 grams salt
Instructions
- Mix the water and starter until combined
- Add flours and salt. Mix for 30-60 seconds by hand.
- Let rest one hour
- Mix again by hand, folding over onto itself.
- Either let rest at room temperature for 8-12 hours OR refrigerate overnight.
- Oil two 9×5 loaf pans.
- Gently deflate and divide into two equal pieces on a floured surface. Fold and knead gently to form into loaves.
- Put into loaf pans and cover with oiled plastic wrap for 1-2 hours until risen 1" above the lip of the pan.
- Heat oven to 375°F. If you have a convection oven 350°F convection.
- Put a metal baking dish or sheet pan low in the oven and add water or ice cubes. (Why ice cubes? Because they're easier to move around without spilling — a trick I learned from someone online and am a big fan of.)
- Slash the top of the loaves 2-3 times.
- Bake for 45 minutes, turning 180° half way through.
- Internal temperature of the loaves should be 190°F when done.
- Let cook in loaf pans for 10-15 minutes before removing and letting cool on cooling racks. (For a crustier crust, remove from pans immediately and return to oven, turn oven off, and prop door open with a wooden spoon.)
Notes
- I started out with 200 grams of starter, 400 grams of water, and 650 total grams of flour (pretty much 1.3x original boule recipe). Good but didn’t rise in the pans enough — ends didn’t make it to the lip. So the next one I’m going to try is 240 grams of starter, 450 grams of water, 750 grams of flour, which is 1.5x the original.